Mona Itani is an engineer, academic, and social entrepreneur. After several years of working in telecommunication multi-national companies, she joined the American University of Beirut in 2011 where she served as a lecturer and researcher at the faculty of engineering and school of business. She was appointed as the coordinator of the Entrepreneurship Initiative at the Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture from 2018-2021 where she was driving the faculty’s mission to become a leading entrepreneurship and innovation school in Lebanon and the Middle East. After completing her PhD in Management from the University of Leicester, she joined the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business as a full-time assistant professor of entrepreneurship in 2021.
Dr. Itani is a published author on entrepreneurship, women, ethics, and education. She is known for her community work in the field of women in technology empowerment including her role as the co-founder of Girls got IT and ex-chair of IEEE Women in Engineering Affinity Group Lebanon Section. She founded Riyada for Social Innovation SAL in 2017 and in 2020, she co-founded Shabab Lab, the first social innovation e-learning platform in the region. She is a renowned public speaker and expert on entrepreneurship and social innovation in the Arab world.
Mona talks about how her government had been investing in the knowledge economy and now is investing in self-sufficiency. This includes entrepreneurship. She is integrating her entrepreneurship curriculum at the high school level now. She believes that entrepreneurship is about making everyone's lives better.
Tim asks how entrepreneurship is bringing hope to those in Lebanon. Mona responds by saying that the Lebanese people have 3 options: 1-They can leave the country, 2-They can stay in the country and complain about their situation and do nothing or, 3-They can stay in the country and improve their lives by keeping busy and getting involved with entrepreneurship bringing positive impact to their own country and even places outside of Lebanon. This will help not only them but the Lebanese economy, their families, students and everyone around them. Their future is in their own hands, and they create their own hope.
Tim also asks how universities will not lose relevancy in the future. Mona says the teaching environment has changed since Covid and there is competition that has to be considered. That we (universities) can't continue to replicate the past and that professors can't continue to lecture at students but use the classroom time better. Those that are resistant to change, will still need to change and everyone will need to rethink the university's unique value proposition.
Website: [ Ссылка ]
About IIB:
The Institute for International Business expands the ways people think about themselves in the world and how they interact with others from around the world. Through our field work and programs, we bring people and organizations together to create economic opportunities for individuals and communities.
The video contents are the responsibility of Indiana University on behalf of the Kelley School of Business Institute for International Business. Viewpoints shared during the interview do not necessarily reflect the views of Indiana University or the Kelley School of Business.
